Joseph Talluto - White Flag of the Dead

To be completely replaced by adrenaline when a voice behind me said “I didn’t know there was someone with us. I wish I had.”

I jumped and spun around, rifle coming up. In the corner near the door, a thin figure was sitting on the floor, the corpse of the girl cradled in his lap. He was all pale skin and bones, and his black hair hung in greasy strips on his head. His clothes were filthy, and his long nose accented his rat-like face. He was stroking the dead girl’s hair, and ran a hand down her chest.

“She got away from me, but I got her back.” His voice was a whisper, but it carried to my horrified ears like he had shouted. I had to get this thing away from my son.

“Maybe you two need to go for a walk, and get reacquainted.” I said lowering the carbine but keeping the barrel on him.

“No, no, no, she might run again, make me chase her again, make me be mad again.” He looked up at me and I saw in his eyes he was completely insane. He had a feral look about him, and every instinct was screaming at me to kill him.

I decided to skip being nice. “You need to leave. Take your girlfriend and go. By the way, she’s dead. Get out.” I raised the gun again to punctuate my words.

He hissed at me and bared his teeth. “She’s not dead, not dead, not dead. No, no, no, no. Not dead, not like the walking sleepy ones, not like them. No, she’s sleeping, my beautiful is sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.”

I was out of patience. This thing had been too close to my son for too long. I stepped forward quickly and punched the lunatic in the head, stunning him. I then grabbed the girl by the ankle. I moved fast and dragged her outside again before the freak realized what I had done.

When he came around, he howled and lunged at me. I was ready for him and slammed the stock of my carbine in his face. His nose spurted blood and he went down in a heap. I grabbed him by the hand and threw him outside on top of his beloved. “Good luck, slick.” I said as I closed the door. I threw the deadbolt and went to the front of the building in time to see a large group of people moving across the parking lot.

Opening the door I waved to Tommy and Duncan. They waved back and started to jog towards me.

When they got close I shook their hands and smiled. “You guys make it okay? No more losses?”

Tommy smiled. “We got ‘em all. This place secure?” he asked.

I nodded. “Good to go. When the people get here, get the women and kids upstairs, with two men at the top of the stairs to make a stand if needed.”

Tommy looked at me. “You expecting trouble?”

I pointed over his shoulder. It looked like a thousand dead were coming down the lane after the group. A shuffling, shambling mass of moaning, wheezing dead.

“Here it comes now.”

We were out of time. Tommy, Duncan and I managed to get one hundred and thrity-two people to the relative safety of a school building, but right on our heels was a small army of undead. We had five minutes before they were on us, and we had no where else to go. So this is it, I thought. Here is where we stand. I made some quick decisions.

I looked at the group assembled before me. Most were tired from their long walk, and in no shape to fight. But we had no choice. We had to stand here, or we wouldn’t stand at all. I was not going to go out this way. I was not going to end here, not going to break my promise to my son or to my wife.

“Listen up! Listen people! I don’t have time for a long speech. The dead are coming, and they will be here shortly.” I saw some nervous looks towards the doors and windows. Thankfully, no one screamed. “We need to get the children upstairs to safety with their mothers and fathers. Each family gets one gun. If they get past us, you decide what you want to do.” I pointed to two men who held rifles. “You two will guard the stairs. Don’t waste ammo on anything other than head shots. If the dead get past us, you’ll need to choke the stairs with bodies to buy yourselves some time.” I threw some large zip ties at them. “Secure the doors at the ends of the hallways. If you need to get out, use the north stairwell. Get through the window at the bottom of the stairs. There’s a creek out there and it will slow down any Z’s coming after you.”

The men nodded and started herding the families and children to the main stairwell. I stopped a young woman heading away.

“What’s your name?” I asked, shifting my carbine to my other shoulder.

“Karen.” She said, her eyes wide with fear. She looked to be about 20, with thin blonde hair and summer clothing.

“Karen, I’m John and this is Jake.” I held up my fully awake, squirming son. “I need you to take care of him until I come for him.” I said, handing him over.

Karen held Jake but shook her head. “Oh, no, I couldn’t. What if those things get through, what if they come up, I can’t…”

I gently held her face and looked into her eyes. “Karen. I know you can do this. Just play with him like there’s nothing going on, and I will be back for him in a little while. No matter what you hear, you keep it together. Keep him safe, and I will keep you safe. I promise.”

Karen nodded and took Jake away. I steeled myself that I would see him again and turned to the task at hand. A slow fire was starting in my gut and my jaw clenched at the coming fight. In a strange way, I welcomed it. I wanted the fight, I wanted to kill and kill and kill. I wanted revenge on these things that had taken away my wife, my life, and destroyed my world. I would fight today and not go quietly.

I ran to the garage and retrieved my Enfield and crowbar. If it came to close quarters, I wanted every tool I had. I grabbed my extra carbine magazines and ran back to the group, which numbered around 75.

I motioned Tommy and Duncan over. “Take five men each and cover the front entrance. That’s the weakest point. Take them down close to the building, make the rest slow up. Each shot has to count. Make sure everyone has a blunt weapon in case they get in. The stairwell at the north end of the building is your fallback point. Good luck.” They ran to the group, quickly selected ten men, and ran to the front door. I could see through the windows that the zombies were halfway through the parking lot.

I turned to the main group and assigned ten men to cover the back door, which was also glass. I told them to hold their fire and make every shot count. Create choke points and buy themselves time. I didn’t expect trouble from there, but who knew? I grabbed five men and took them to the small hallway near the gym. There was another door there that led outside. I gave them the same advice. Don’t let too many get through, make them work for it.

I took the remainder and spread them out in the hallways in groups of two. Any more together and they would likely hit each other. They didn’t have guns, and were nervously fingering their makeshift weapons. They were to act as backup if someone went down. They were also to guard against any zombies making it through a window. Not likely, given the nature of the windows, but it was possible. One of them, a big guy I had heard someone call Charlie, positioned himself in front of the main stairwell doors. He held a length of lead pipe that had a t-junction attached to one end. In the other hand he had a small hatchet. I mentally gave him a Good luck, brother. I stationed myself near the south door. It was another weak point, but I figured it was as good a place as any. I went to the door and looked out the window. I had a stairwell to the second floor nearby, but I knew the doors had been secured with a zip tie.

Holy shit. We were in serious trouble. More zombies had joined the original crew from the subdivision surrounding the building, and I figured there had to be at least eight hundred of the bastards out there. We didn’t have nearly enough ammo. That slow fire in my gut began to burn a little hotter and I had to restrain myself from throwing myself outside to do battle. Where did this come from? Why was I so eager to jump into the fray? I advised caution at every turn, but here at what could be my last act, I wanted to just engage my enemy, to rend and smash. My hand gripped my carbine tighter and I shifted my crowbar to be within easy reach.